Chapter Text
A couple weeks go by and Dennis is barely hanging on by a thread. Even though he feels like he’s found a home in the ED, the way he feels for his boss is tearing him up on the inside. He feels like this is some grand punishment for leaving Nebraska against his family’s wishes or for illegally living in the hospital until thankfully trinity saved him on their first day. He finds her to be his one saving grace of a day so evil.
Everyone noticed that Robby has seemed to shift back into his old attitude, many just attributing that to the trauma of pittfest and not giving it much more thought except for a sad sigh of what could’ve been. The students never knew him before so they don’t think much of it either.
Except for Trinity.
Trinity notices the way that the older man’s hands seem to gravitate towards her new mousey friend. She notices that when they talk by themselves they both walk away from the conversation with a look that can only be described as yearning. She wants to chalk it up to dennis having a silly crush and Robby being unaware, but there’s something about them that she just cannot put her finger on.
She, of course, decides to snoop. She talks to Princess and Perlah, asking about Dr. Robby’s past, specifically hinting at his dating life.
They, of course, tell her everything they know.
“So he used to date Dr. Collins but they broke up after a couple months and he’s never been with anyone since.” Perlah starts before Princess jumps in, “But there was a period of time where we thought maybe he was seeing someone but I guess that ended.”
“He was seeing someone?” Santos questioned, “who was he seeing?” Princess answers, “no one knows,” she leans in closer to Trinity and lowers her voice “but someone overheard a conversation that him and Abbot had and they think he was seeing a man.” Trinity widens her eyes as princess sinks back into her chair and gives Trinity a devilish smile.
After their shift is over Trinity and her roommate start towards her car, but not before she gives one last glance to her attending. They share an almost knowing look before trinity turns to leave with her friend.
“What do you think of Dr. Robby?” Trinity questions the boy beside her, he just looks at her in fear. “What? Nothing. I mean he’s obviously a good teacher and a really good doctor but I’m not like spending time thinking about him.” He rambles, “why? Did he say something to you?”
Trinity assesses his reaction for a moment before choosing to ignore his questions, “well I overheard that he was seeing someone a few months ago. “ Dennis is shaking at this point. “And apparently it was a man! Can you believe it? I didn’t know men that old could be gay.” She huffs out a laugh at her own joke. Dennis looks like he’s about to faint.
“He’s not that old” Dennis mumbles, suddenly finding his fingernails very interesting as he starts to open up to his roommate.
“If I tell you something, do you promise to keep it a secret?” He’s so anxious he can hardly stand to look at her. Trinity just yelps, swerving the car on accident and causing both of them to jump from their seats. Trinity seems to care very little about that as she is too busy congratulating herself on yet another brilliant discovery.
“I knew it !!” Dennis looks at her with a quirked eyebrow. “I knew there was something going on between you two it was practically written all over your faces!” for a moment she forgets what she uncovered and is lost in the joys of being right.
“Please don’t tell anyone! If this got out it’d be so over for me” Dennis pleads with his head in his hands, “it’s not like there’s anything going on now, it basically ended before it even started.”
They finally arrive at the apartment complex and Trinity takes her time parking before she answers him. “Relax, I won’t tell anyone.” She moves towards her keys, trying to keep this as casual as possible so Dennis doesn’t think that she likes him as much as she does. It does not succeed. “I don’t see why you guys couldn’t be together though, other than the fact that he’s older than sand.”
They’re walking towards their apartment together. “It’s a lot more complicated than that” Dennis scoffs, “He says he can’t be with me so he’s not going to be with me and I just have to live with that.”
Trinity stares at him for a moment, unable to hide the empathy for her friend. She clears her throat.
“Damn Huckleberry, never took you for a quitter.” Is all trinity says before unlocking the door to their apartment and swiftly changing the subject. Dennis is left to ponder on her words.
~~~~
Robby watches Trinity and Dennis leave like they have every time they’ve had a shift together. Sometimes, even when it’s just Dennis working trinity will come pick him up.
Of course he would get a girlfriend after his experience with Robby. Why wouldn’t he? He could have anyone he wanted and Robby was definitely no prize. Robby decides to get some air on the roof as he genuinely convinces himself that he’s scared Dennis straight.
As he’s looking over the ledge at the beautiful city crawling over every surface, his friend Jack finds him. Jack knew he’d be there. He had seen how Robby and Whitaker have been acting with each other. That, plus the look in Robby’s eyes when he was leaving with Santos was so pitiful, there just had to be something there.
“Jumping over med students seems a little dramatic, no?”
Robby turns around, quirks his eyebrow and takes a deep breath. “I messed up so bad” he’s looking at the ground. “I don’t think I’ve ever messed up this bad”
Jack, doing his best to try to hide his laughs replies, “messed up what? Hiding your little crush? You were never gonna keep that a secret for long. Not around here.”
Robby has a hard time finding the humor in this situation.
“I just feel like such an idiot for being upset. I’m the one that pushed him away and now I’m the one that’s upset because he’s moved on”
Jack has an easy time finding the humor in this situation.
“What are you talking about man? The kid’s eyes expand to the size of the moon every time you so much as breathe near him” He laughs at his oblivious friend. “No chance in hell he’s moved on.”
Robby feels a sharp pain in his chest at the thought of Dennis’ eyes looking at him through his computer screen. god he feels dumb right now.
“I don’t know, I keep seeing him with Santos. They seem way happier together anyways I just need to get over it. It was never gonna work.”
Jack is now convulsing on the floor in laughter, “dude you may actually be an idiot.” Robby is finding his closest friend to be very annoying at the moment.
“What’s so funny?! None of this is funny to me! “ Robby exclaims. Much to his dismay, this does not seem to stop the doctor from laughing.
“What’s funny is that Santos is a raging lesbian and you’re so obsessed with finding an excuse to not try to fix your relationship that you somehow didn’t realize that!”
Robby is dumbfounded. For a moment he tries to find the right words to retaliate before ultimately giving into the ridiculousness of the situation and joining his friend in laughing at him.
They laugh for a while. They laugh about Robby’s terrible gaydar, they laugh about how stressed out he was before this conversation, they laugh about how stressed out he still is after the conversation. But somehow, it feels manageable now.
He picks up his phone and drafts a text.
~~~~
Hey, I know it’s been a while. I would really love to talk to you again. If you’re not doing anything tonight I’d love for you to come over and we can make things right.
Dennis stares at his phone. He’s sure he’s dreaming this. He tries and fails to take a deep breath before attempting a response.
I’ve been hoping you would say that :) I can leave now !
Him and robby exchange a few words along with his address before Dennis gets ready at the speed of light to see the older man. He felt so nervous like it was a first date, in a way he guessed it technically was. He puts on some jeans that are slightly less worn out than the others and pulls on a sweater that he remembers robby complimenting in one of their many calls. He spends a few minutes deciding if putting on cologne would be considered overkill before he eventually puts it on and rushes out the door.
He barely says his goodbyes to Trinity, who is on the couch with a knowing smirk that he definitely did not notice.
It’s a longer walk to Robby’s than expected. He’s pretty cold but puts on a brave face cause at this point nothing could stop him from seeing Robby.
Robby opens the door after the first knock. He looks up at the man in front of him. Right now they aren’t Dr. Robby and Dr. Whitaker. They aren’t even Den and Mike.
Right now they were just Dennis and Michael.
Michael’s eyes widen as he gets a closer look at the boy. His skin is red and his hands are shaking. He pulls him inside as quick as he can and starts inspecting him.
“It’s too cold out for you to just be wearing this sweater. You need a good jacket. And gloves.” He tries to speak sternly but his words ooze with affection.
Whitaker just shudders under the older man’s touch. “Well I was in a little bit of a rush” he giggles before looking at the floor.
Michael brings him one of his old jackets to warm him up. Dennis is practically swimming in it while the older man is staring at him like he’s a puppy.
Dennis sits on the couch and watches Michael move to his record collection. His back is facing Dennis as he puts on a familiar album. As the music starts to play Dennis’ is even more focused on his every movement.
It was Harvest Moon by Neil young. They had bonded over his music in their first meeting. He remembers.
Micheal turns around and extends a hand to a now standing Dennis.
“May I have this dance?”
They wrap their arms around each other, pressing their foreheads together and swaying in the older man’s living room, softly singing along to the song.
“When we were strangers, I watched you from afar
When we were lovers, I loved you with all my heart
But now it’s getting late and the moon is climbing high
I want to celebrate, see it shining in your eyeBecause I’m still in love with you
I wanna see you dance again
Because I’m still in love with you
On this harvest moon”
The sound of their voices coming together made Dennis’ heart swell and for the first time, he wasn’t worried that the other man didn’t feel the same.
They stare into each other’s eyes as the song fades out. Michael cups Dennis’ cheeks with his hands, his thumb absentmindedly caressing his face.
“I’m sorry I’m an idiot. I don’t care about the rules. I care about you.”
“It’s okay, we’re here now” Dennis replies with a sickly sweet smile before closing the gap between their lips.
The kiss started slow and passionate and filled with adoration. Dennis could feel a single teardrop leak from Michael’s eye. He wipes it away and continues to put as much of himself as he can into the kiss. He wants him to know how much he cares for him, how happy he is to feel him in his arms at last.
The men start to grow hungrier for each other. Michael picks Dennis up and carries him to his bedroom. He places the boy down on the bed, watching him sprawl out in all his glory.
“This is better than anything I could’ve ever dreamed of” he says with a smile.
Dennis yanks Michael by his shirt collar onto the bed. He adjusts his legs so he can straddle the smaller boy and start kissing down his neck while his hands explore underneath his shirt.
They take their clothes off in a blur of motions. It was primal the way they were rubbing on each other’s skin, taking in every square inch of each other’s body. Michael wraps his hand around Dennis’ length and starts to slowly stroke him, watching his eyes roll to the back of his head and his jaw go slack.
Watching Dennis unfold in his hands felt like watching the Mona Lisa get painted. Except this was his Dennis, his beautiful Dennis.
Dennis groans at the loss of touch when Michael moves his hand away but the stimulation is not gone for long as he sticks his palm out under Dennis’s chin. Dennis spits into Michael’s hand while maintaining eye contact and Michael shudders in want for the boy under him
After rubbing Dennis’ spit across his fingers he slowly enters the boy. Once he feels him stretch around his first finger he adds another. And then another. And he begins slowly going in and out of the boy, quickly locating the bundle of nerves that make Dennis’ moans louder and needier.
He can’t take it anymore and lines himself up with the younger man’s entrance before pushing himself in. Dennis has his ankles almost over his head at this point and the two men were just breathily moaning into each other’s mouths during each stroke.
Michael tears his eyes away from the boy to try and stave off his orgasm but Dennis grabs his face and forces their eyes to meet yet again. “Wanna watch your face when you fill me up” Dennis manages to get out between moans and that is all it takes for Michael to finish inside of him almost instantly. Dennis’ own climax follows shortly after.
They lay together for a moment, panting and staring at each other. They can’t help but smile. Neither of them ever thought that they would come out of this anyway but scathed. But here they are, holding each other knowing that nothing is going to stop them from loving each other.
Michael gets up and lovingly cleans them both before crawling back into bed. Dennis immediately latches onto him like an octopus snaking his legs around the older man’s body to hold him tighter.
They were right where they needed to be.